I am in Love with Korea Today so Thought I Should Post

Today I started choking in one of the three the coffee shops in my building and the owner heard me so she made me a special tea and gave me a big bottle of cough syrup to take home. I was so touched I figured I should pay it forward and give back by blogging for my friends.

I'll start by talking about my friends in Korea. We've had a few holidays come and go and I think I've enjoyed them more here than I have since college in the states. It's been hard to get over my feelings of foreboding about the holidays because they've been kinda regretful in the states. I have a had a few good ones with people I love (like t-day in SB for example), but there are a lot of holidays that I sat around hoping they'd get better or hoping I could get away from mean people. Because of that I realize I get nervous about holidays and I may finally be over that feeling.

On Halloween I felt like everyone was fixing to go out without me and that I'd be alone. Everyone I knew had plans to go downtown but they were all going in groups and I wasn't in a group. I made a plan to go with Han who lives on my floor but he wasn't answering his phone or door when it was time to go. I thought about giving up but then a friend called and said I'd better get down there so I grabbed a beer and hopped in a cab alone. I saw some foreigners who looked familiar and followed them to the nearest bar and lo and behold there were some people I knew. Then more people came, and more, and finally everyone was saying how excited they were to see me and glad I made it. Han of course had a piss poor excuse but that's just him. I also found out later that one of my friends had called someone else in my building and asked him to go to my door to make sure I'd left. Amazing. It was a fun night with fun costumes and even though it's similar to college, the big difference is that I'm no longer in college so I'm not making stupid decisions and can have a regret-less fun time. I guess I should add what Halloween is like in Korea. All the foreigners get together downtown (which is a bit like the bar scene in State College but without the lines), and there are tons of funny costumes. The Koreans who love to do western things also get dressed up but I don't think they quite understand the concept - instead of wearing a costume they wear costumes. For example, they wear scary masks or funny hats or USA outfits. I guess that makes sense but westerners have made Halloween so much about making a funny costume that it's no longer about just looking scary so it's weird to see people wearing unrecognizable costumes. Many Korean girls like to dance with me and when they do is probably the only time western guys dance with me. The guys always scare away the girls though. No game. I also don't appreciate being their wingman.

On to Thanksgiving. Since this holiday was a Thursday everyone I know had to work late. It's weird that it was the first time I've ever worked on Thanksgiving and it didn't actually feel weird. My close group of friends decided to have a dinner at the one girl's place who has more than one room apartment, Prisca. She's got three bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room, but shares it with roommates. Han and I headed over there after work (10pm) for a potluck dinner. I had spent the afternoon frying sweet potato medallions and brought some wine as well. Han brought nothing. When we got there everyone was already setting up food. We all chipped in to buy a rotisserie chicken and some ribs. Dan concocted and apple pie by getting sweet waffles at the bakery (a chain called Paris Baguette), heating up apple pie filling his mom mailed to him and topping it with fresh whip and vanilla ice cream. He also had canned cranberry sauce (my fave) and green beans (supposed to be from Han). Prisca made spaghetti with homemade veggie sauce, Katie made mashed potatoes, Bethany and Erin brought mixed veggies and a fruit salad, as well as garlic bread that came with a sweet whipped topping. Surprisingly delish! We all made up big plates and said what we were thankful for, which included clubbing, friends, Korean food, and our favorite relatives. Then we watched Elf and prepared ourselves for Christmas.

Chanuka was the holiday I was most nervous about. I tried having a Chanuka party in SD and even though some people came, it was not all that fun and I had so much leftover food. The party had to be Friday night because Steve and I were co-throwing it and he wanted to go away for the weekend, so the start time was 11pm and I had an hour after work to fret that no one would come. The plan was Steve would make the latkes and I would host it in my room (his room is a nasty filth pit). We eventually coerced Han into giving up his room as the beer pong room. Haha. I spent the day before work buying and cutting veggies for a platter and getting jelly munchkins from Dunkin Donuts, and getting E-Mart chocolates as a substitute for gelt. I found some gold coins at Starbucks but I couldn't buy them in bulk so I just bought one for myself. I set everything up after work and then sat in my apartment from 10:15 on worrying. Maybe no one would eat the veggies and there were so many! I set up three makeshift menorahs and lit two just in case no one would want to do it properly. All this for nothing! Some coworkers were in Steve's room and I thought maybe they'd never come over. Then right at 11 Mike came to my room and asked if I was ready. Oh. They came over and went straight to the food and dove in. They sat down and drank and chatted. People were having fun already! Then there were enough people to spill into Han's room and start beer pong. When Steve was done frying he brought in the latkes and gathered everyone around to light the menorah and people said amen after I said the prayers and dug into the latkes. Then I realized none of my Thanksgiving friends were there yet and I worried again. They showed up a little while later with a felt Menorah and little felt flames to add to it, and each girl was wearing a felt flame pinned to her shirt. Adorable! I'd invited a guy from downstairs when I saw him in the street a few days before and figured he'd forget to come. He came with a homemade dreidel and said he'd taught his students to play. oh, he's Catholic. we gathered up the E-Mart chocolates and played dreidel on the floor! An actual real Chanuka party! I'm still shocked by how successful it was. The last people left around 5:30am. Han's room was a mess with a pool of beer on the floor; mine wasn't so bad. Who can tell if Steve's had any damage?

On to Christmas! Christmas is interesting in Korea because it's everywhere like in the states - sings, decorations, music, but it's not celebrated like in the states. I've asked all my students what they're doing on Christmas and they have said, school, sleeping, playing computer games, and one said she's going Christmas camping. Then she drew me a picture of the three-bedroom tent with a fireplace and running water. hm.

*There are Christmas sales in the stores on winter wear and alcohol but I haven't noticed the crowds getting too bad. It helps that I don't have to drive and park anywhere. My favorite ad campaign is ad Paris Baguette: "You are not alone." There is something so lonely about seeing it on their windows. The commercial has Santa Claus putting gifts under the tree forlornly and then the house's family wakes up and brings him a PB (we also call it P-Bag) cake. It's depressing. The cakes are gorgeous though. A PB rival, Tous Le Jour, has a commercial where a whiny girlfriend gets a cake from her bf. I'm not sure if it's a tradition to give cakes to your lover or what but the cakes are not personal sized. It's pretty common to buy the cakes, though; I've seen people eating them at clubs, restaurants, and parties. Like I've said before, restaurants don't have dessert so I guess it's ok to bring a PB cake in. They are also pretty cheap considering how pretty they are. OK enough about cakes.*

Christmas. Last Friday night the people who teach at the three branches of my school in town had a ugly sweater bowling party. Two of my friends and I went out and bought some great sweaters, but not everyone was into it so some people showed up looking normal. Whatevs, we had fun bowling. The three new teachers in town came out and they are cool for the most part.

*The girl, Meagan likes Han for some reason. She seems nice and fun but also like she's from a different world from me. She says literally too much (saying it once is too much and most people here say it too much so you can understand when I single her out as saying it too much) and when she was chatting with me online she called this annoying guy a "f@*got," which kind of blew me away. I only mention these things because they are so foreign to me as being normal. I should start having footnotes, huh? The other new guy at her school is Spencer and so far I am not into him. He is pretty loud and rambunctious, like me, but he's already offended me and some of my girlfriends (which i've also prob done). After learning Prisca's name he asked where she was from and when she said "LA" he said "but where are you really from?" We're not sure if he said this because of her name or because she looks Asian but it was weird. Also, the first night I met him he told me he just wanted to be friends even though he usually had Jewish girlfriends, and then when he was drunk told me he was finally drunk enough to do me. Smooth. It might be my job to tell him he is not good-looking enough to be such an ass. The last new guy is Nick. I have only seen him twice and so far he's been nice. I know he likes Indie rock, ironic glasses, and possibly Buffy because I made a reference and he seemed to get it. Could've just been being nice though.*

This year I am part of two secret santas: one is with my group of friends from Thanksgiving and the other is with my coworkers. Last weekend we had the friend party and it was a success for me. The assignment was to buy Korean-style winter wear. This means something cute and maybe a little tacky that one couldn't find in the US. Then we all picked numbers and then chose a gift from the pile to open. I bought a reversible circle scarf (it's the kind that you put over your head, kind of like a really loose mock turtleneck), and super fuzzy smiley face pants. I chose an awesome gift - a red/orange scarf, ski socks, and a squirrel hat. The hat is similar to the ones I bought my nephews. Two other ppl got similar hats - they're pretty awesome. I'm pretty sure Liz, who bought my gift, went over the $20 limit. I'm stoked about the socks because on Christmas day I'm going skiing with my coworkers and I'll get to test them out. The party was also fun - we had another potluck style thing going. I'd brought baked goods from a charity bake sale I went to that day (homemade baked goods are exciting because none of us has an oven). Liz made chicken quesadillas and guacamole (she's quite amazing actually). Bethany brought homemade blue cheese from the bake sale and crackers. Dan brought pizzas, Sylvia and Will brought wine, and Han brought a small bag of chips he'd bought last second. After eating and unwrapping we watched Love Actually and I put out the chips because I didn't want Han taking them home to eat for breakfast. Then I got the flu and went I went to bed that Saturday night I didn't get up until late Monday morning.

Tonight is my second secret santa. This one we drew names for. Guess who I got. Yes, Han. How did you know? We are going to order in food in Will's room and open gifts after work, 10pm. I got out of having it in my room by saying the flu germs were still around. So I tossed around some ideas for Han's gift before settling on one. I wanted to get him a mop but I didn't know if we were going to a restaurant and didn't want to lug it around. I also thought about getting him an etiquette book but I didn't think I'd find one in English. Then I thought about making one but it seemed like a mean gift to give. Also, I'm not really the expert. Oh wait, I'm totally gonna make a fake etiquette book cover and wrap it and pretend it's his gift first. Ok, but what I really got him is an electronic bus pass. Our limit was $10 and the bus pass is $6 so I put $4 on it, which means he gets 4 rides. The bus pass is cool because it saves you .05 each ride, but it's not worth it in price alone if you take the bus twice a week for only one year. It is worth it if you don't want to carry around singles with you whenever you need the bus, though. So it's a nice gift for Han for two reasons: he hates having cash on him (so he says, but I think he's just cheap), and he can save money without having to pay for the pass. Right? I'm nervous he won't like it because it's a cell phone tassel and he might not want to put it on his phone. He's weird like that. In the states I wouldn't want a cell phone tassel either, but here it's normal. Everyone has at least one and some are super bulky. I love my bus pass though so I hope he likes his. I'm excited to see what someone bought me.

I think we're going to have a low-key Christmas eve (teaching until 10pm) and then wake up super early to go skiing on Christmas. Sylvia and I are the only ones skiing, everyone else is super cool and will be snowboarding. I thought about it because I do know how to wakeboard now, but I like skiing so Iim going to stick with it. Then we are all going to come back for a Christmas pot luck. Will bought a big apple pie at Costco (there's one two hours away!) and froze it for this occasion. And then we prepare ourselves for New Year's Eve. I'm not over my holiday fears enough to be excited for it yet.